changing the national dialogue all week. >> and bret baier is next. >> i'm bret baier in washington. let's listen in to newt gingrich. >> we're told the secretary of anti-energy, dr. chu announced this afternoon he actually wasn't for european-level prices of gasoline, that he changed his mind. now... so i would say, in the middle of a campaign of the states we're already impacting the national debate on a scale all of romney's ad money hasn't achieved because ideas matter. and the threat to principles matter. the reagan tradition of visionary conservatism is

based on proverb skptz deep belief that without vision, the people perish. i believe we need a visionary leader prepared to talk about a dramatic better future with dramatically more jobs, dramatically more energy and a safer, stronger america. i think that is the key to winning this fall. not all of this pet petty bologna but big choices. and as i went around both states talking about $2.50 gasoline and having folks saying that that is not possible, then, finally on saturday, in the "wall street journal" there is a piece entitled newt gingrich is right about gasoline. you walk through step by step why it was possible. and then, the fact is that it is very possible. and then, yesterday steven moore reported numbers are so amazing and the fact that i

want to talk about substance is what makes this different from other campaign skptz reason we're going to go to tampa. we need at a time of great problems great solutions and great solutions require substance. and substance requires actually knowing something. so that is a very important part of it. and unfortunately everything president obama knows is wrong. ronald reagan used to say it isn't what they don't know that is so frightening it's what they know that is wrong and he's right. here is a case study. we're told by the u.s. geological survey in 1990s there is 150 million barrels of recoverable oil in north dakota. and this is the liberals told us we're about to run out we're going to decay, we have no future, new drilling

technology came along. and we're now told that in fact as of this last week, they believe there are 24 billion barrels of recoverable oil in north dakota alone. now... that made me feel like i had to change my speech because up until last week i had been saying there was 25 times as much oil as they thought. now, it turns out current estimate is that there are 160 times, 16,000% more oil in north dakota than they thought there was in 1990s, some believe that that number is off by a huge margin. the fewer tour technology will lead to us find about 500 billion barrels of oil. now i'm not trying to fill you up with number buzz trying to make a point about a general direction. an american president who believed in energy and an american president who believed in science and technology would drive the

price of gasoline below $2.50 eliminate our dependence on the middle east and we'd never, ever again bow to a saudi king. [ applause ]. >> so you have my promise at a time when i hope this evening we've ended any news media talk of the hand picked candidate at a time we can forget about trying to nominate a massachusetts moderate and start talking about when the primaries are over, it's clear no one person has won, who would do a best job of representing america, governing and winning the election against barack obama?

and let me just close that observation something senator wagner said earlier. this, really i hope all of you will take to heart. i'm very grateful in mississippi and alabama. i have had just wonderful relationships and friendships and my daughters kathy and jackie, and jackie's husband jimmy had a terrific time here, jimmy has gotten a commitment to go bass fishing. ray indicated he thought he can give a good afternoon of bass. from jimmy's standpoint this is a great, successful evening. but we've been out campaigning and had a wonderful response and we're grateful. i want to tell you in just a moment what will be a challenge is that there will be three, four days in the news media. these are the people who said last june i

was dead. i recycle this every six weeks. biggest challenge will be raising money. and we will have gotten delegates, we'll get between santorum and myself we'll get over two thirds of the delegates and so called front runner will get less than one third but there is all of this talk. the person that gives me hope and makes me stay in this race and makes me committed -- committed to carrying ideas to tampa is samuel sanford an unemployed person who decided after hearing my speech on c-span or internet that he really liked what i was trying to do on gasoline. we talked about the fact, you can go to newt.org and give one gallon of newt gas, that is $2.50. he heard and went online and gave $2.50 and he became number one 175,000.

now, romney has wall street millionaires. many are using money you sent them as a tax payer to buy ads to attack people but we're not going to compete with romney for money. because he doesn't have people. we have 175,000 donors over 95% giving less than $250 so since he's number one i called samuel and it was a humbling call. i got him in the afternoon after he had come home from cancer treatment. he's unemployed. he took out of his savings, the $2.50 because he wants to be part of helping save america. now that, to me was such a humbling conversation. the dedication had to america, his commitment to a peoples' campaign. his unwillingness to give up and let millionaires roll over him, that is just an immense

amount to me. i want you to know with your help if if you'll talk to friends and neighbor goes back on facebook and twitter, use e mail we'll continue to run a peoples' campaign. i believe after the primaries are over it will be obvious so called front runner in fact didn't get there. from that point on we'll be in a different conversation, thank you, good luck, and god bless you. ♪ [ music ] . >> newt gingrich in alabama saying he's staying in this race. he's staying in all the way to the convention in tampa. this after two big wins for

rick santorum in alabama and mississippi. two states that earlier the gingrich campaign said they had to win. they backed off of that. and said they needed to perform well in these two states. gingrich pointing out that a third of the delegates, roughly will go to each candidates fighting in both of those states. and he says that means that the gel del git battle goes on and he goes on. despite calls for him to get out of the race he says he's in the race. and he'll stay in the race. senior national correspondent john roberts is in louisiana site of the rick santorum celebration, on the way to puerto rico. good evening, john. >> yes. the party is over here, but this was really a big night for rick santorum. he'd been trailing in all poll goesing into this primary and didn't think he was going to do well. he was circumspect.

then, he is going to get a lot of delegates out of this. so will newt gingrich. i managed to speak to him on his way to catching that plane to puerto rico. and i said to him, in you're speech tonight you said it's time now for conservatives to unite to get behind one conservative candidate, propel that person to nomination. i said is it time for newt gingrich to get out? he told me that he doesn't, he's not calling on newt gingrich to do anything but calling on voters and the rest of the primary states to get behind conservative candidate. his contention, bret if newt gingrich would not a factor woe get the majority of newt gingrich's supporters and be able to roll all over mitt romney. the problem is can he get to 1144 delegates? that is the open question. >> bret: the mood in the room? it's a bit of a surprise he

pulled off the win in two states. is the campaign now saying this changes the dynamic? >> the campaign is saying that it is going to give rick santorum steam. you talk about reaction in this room. we're not in alabama. we're not in mississippi we're in lafayette, louisiana. contest here isn't for two weeks but people were enthusiastic here had they been in birmingham or jackson. >> bret: john roberts, thank you very much. up next our panel, charles krauthammer steve hays we'll analyze what these two big wins mean, here they are. we might as well show you while you're sitting there. we'll be back right after this. this is an rc robotic cw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dlars into american education.

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it's great for watching movies. i'll get one for me and one for my wife. i'll be like [manly voice] "a phone, my sweet" and she'll say [swooning voice] "oh, my hero !" and i'll say [manly voice] "i am a hero" and she'll say [swooning voice] "did you remember to pick up milk, my hero ?" and i'll say "whoops." hopefully the phones will make up for that. behold the power of two 4g lte smartphones. buy one spectrum by lg at $199.99 and get one free. verizon. welcome back to america's election headquarters coverage tonight two, big southern primaries. alabama and mississippi big wins for rick santorum, those are surprises. taking a look at alabama there,

you can see the spread 35%, 29%, 29%. there is a battle for second place there in alabama. 84% of the expected votes in currently. as you go to mississippi you can see that it is also a win from rick santorum but a battle for second place, we can't call second or third yet. ron paul finishing fourth in both states. let's bring in our panel. steve hays and amy stod yard, and keersten powers and charles krauthammer, charles, thoughts? >> santorum had a big night. and there is a lukewarm accept stance speech. i think he needs to work on that. gingrich had a terrible night. i thought his speech was worse. the mocking tone, mocking romney. and gingrich had a worse night, that was his home court.

it had tone of i man who knows it's out of his reach now but he wants to settle stories. romney had a bad night but doesn't, he said it's an way game. he showed he can't play in the south among republicans. and ron paul is much less of a factor now than he was a few months ago. i think he's going to lose faith. >> and romney outspent santorum in both states. in alabama, they were hoping and signaling there might be a chance to pull ut out. >> yes. >> they didn't. >> well, i don't think it's much of a surprise romney didn't do better than he did. it's not necessarily favorable to him. good news for romney is that he held his own among evangelicals. and for santorum it was a very strong night. good news is that he's doing better among working women, which people were concerned

was going to be an area of trouble for him. >> bret: what about the split? clearly, very conservative voters are splitting between gingrich and santorum. increasing call for santorum folks to say gingrich should get out of the race. do you think if he did get out of the royce rais that those voters would go to santorum? or would be split? >> polls, in this primary season have shown santorum, if santorum left the vote many votes, gingrich is hell, no. we won't go the mitt romney vote. it would be terrible for mitt romney if newt gingrich found out. we started saying ron paul is mitt romney's best friend. newt gingrich is saving him now. if newt gingrich were to get up and leave and none of us believe he will, that rick santorum could let him stop

the nomination. i'm not saying and romney has more than double delegates pile rick santorum has tonight. not saying rick santorum can get to 1144 but i'm saying he's looking to stop romney. that no one will have the delegates and as lng as gingrich is in there, romney stay as live. >> 1144 magic number of delegates to get g.o.p. nomination? >> yes. the story of the night is that romney probably ends up, once adding in hawaii probably ends up winning the battle but this is not a good showing for him. newt gingrich and rick santorum will do better than he did there. it's what we've seen a cross the board if you look at very conservative voters. romney is pulling about a third of those. consistent of what he's gotten in other places. the most-interesting thing to me to look at going forward is whether there is a de facto

pact between santorum and gingrich. if gingrich is getting out he said tonight talking about the results here tonight between santorum and me, we got two-thirds. that sounds like someone more independent, and than sit someone who is basically winning. i had communication was gingrich campaign staffers. they assure me he's staying in because he thinks he can win. >> we'll have communication with newt gingrich on the other side of the break and will ask about plans and about what is next. and how far he's in this race. newt gingrich right after the break.

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>> bret: rick santorum the big winner in alabama and mississippi, newt gingrich

battling it out for second place, let's talk now to the former speaker who joins us live. thank you for being here. mr. speaker, can you hear me? all right. i thought we had mr. speaker, speaker gingrich. we were just talking to him during the break, i think we can get him back on the line. he finishes at least second or third in both alabama and mississippi. and first mississippi, you can take a look at the results and you can see the battle there about 3,000 votes, less than 3,000 votes. and rick santorum is a surprise winner there after romney campaign spent a lot of money and organization on the ground in mississippi. newt gingrich said to be doing well on the ground. in alabama you can see that rick santorum is a big winner but there is still a battle for second place in alabama.

and we're getting word that house speaker is still not up. there he is in alabama. there is rick santorum, too tight to call, second place. now as promised the former house speaker newt gingrich, mr. speaker thank you for being here, your reaction to tonight? >> senator santorum had a great night. he deserves credit. he worked hard and earned it. and you have to say i think frankly governor rom me for the front runner is weak tonight. and two out of three had been either for santorum or gingrich and won't be for romney. phase one of the campaign has to be is romney inable? i think with each passing week he looks less inevitable that

becomes the question of what happens after june 26th he's not getting enough delegates which i think now is very possible. look. i wish i had done better, i'd like to have come in first in both states but we'll leave with a good number of delegates and will get somewhere between 25 and 30 that. adds to ones we've won z we'll move on now to other states. illinois tomorrow, then in louisiana later on this week. >> bret: the pressure will build for you to get out of the race. are you staying in? >> brett, there is no pressure. all the guys who want to interview, everybody in june or july said i was dead. compared to that pressure, what pressure is it going to be? romney people want knee to get out? washington establishment want me to get out? wall street millionaires who have given to romney want me

out? i don't kairks i represent the american people, i have 175,000 donors and represent people like samuel sanford a guy on cancer treatment gave 2.50s so i am campaigning with big ideas. you've covered it just this week. we've got obama white house, and the secretary of energy change his position on energy, gas prices and the white house press secretary attacking me twice this week. i think we're beginning to gain ground and i want to continue to develop these issues like $2.50 a gallon of gasoline. there is no urgency. personal as romney, if he doesn't gain this by shared numbers he won't be the nom nee. he's not going to gather extra votes beyond the ones he gets. >> bret: fox news can now project you'll come in second

in mississippi leaving mitt romney in third in that state. you're saying that you're staying in the race and there won't be pressure. you look at exit polls from states and conservative voters said that they split between you and rick santorum. you've said this party, g.o.p., cannot have a so called massachusetts moderate and called him a massachusetts liberal numerous times as the nominee. in order to prevent that, santorum folks would say he needs an opportunity to go one on one. do you say that is wrong? >> no. i say some states we'll go one on one and we'll see what happens. he went one on one in michigan and lost, ohio, and lost. i'm not sure it's to his advantage right now to allow, if romney could take all of his money and focus it on negative ads on one person, we've seen again and again, his capacity to tear down people.

and huge capacity to tear tear down people. the fact two out of the three delegates from each state is not going to be for romney is a significant advantage. we can argue later on whether or not santorum is the right person or gingrich is. and i think phase one has to be people taken into account prep sen taigs in most states. that means it's not winner takes all. and as a result, i think it's much harder for governor romney to consolidate and i think i bring a level of ideas, new solutions a level of national debate. you haven't seen the other guys engage the president on the degree i've engaged him on energy, and gasoline prices. so i think i do bring a unique part to this campaign. and giving republicans a better advantage in trying to

defeat barack obama. >> bret: mr. speaker you said you have a southern strategy. you won south carolina and georgia. alabama is next door. you didn't win there or in mississippi. what state coming up do you think you can win? >> i don't know yet. we're looking at a number of them. from louisiana to arkansas. i talked about texas. we have places we're going to be competing in. there are places like district of columbia where santorum is not on the ballot. so it's to his advantage to be competing there. he can't. he did not get on the ballot. so we're looking at a lot of places, maryland, delaware, west virginia. i think it will be useful to see. also believe an idea-oriented campaign grows over time. look at what's happening. >> bret: mr. speaker let me ask you policy questions if you will on the other side of the commercial break. thank you very much. more with speaker gingrich

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>> bret: let's rejoin newt gingrich tonight. one more thing about the race is, your path to block mitt romney from getting to 1144 then take this fight to the convention floor? is that the path you can see to getting a nomination? >> i want to take it to a

dialogue during a 6 owe day period between the last primary and the convention. we live in an age of television, radio, you tube, what have you. i could imagine a dialogue that says who is the right person and whether it's one of the four of us or someone else. the question is who is the person capable of defeating barack obama? and who is the person representing the values in the republican party? i think the challenge is that he's been campaigning six years and there is $40 kblinl of his own money, 16 billionaires on his super pack. you can't skt rest of us to help him close the sale. >> for people who say that one person who wants to you stay in this race is mitt romney. what do you say? >> i say that we've got two out of three delegates in mississippi and alabama for someone other than mitt rom

nee. i don't think that that is what he wanted. and i think every time the first goal has to be to get to a point where there is an alternative to romney. >> you said interesting things about mitt romney and attacked with millions of dollars, do you think mitt romney has character to become commander in chief? >> i think he would be a better president than barack obama. that is it. >> well, that would support him to be president over barack obama is a big thing. >> and nothing else? >> bret, we're competitors. go ahead and next time you're on the air try to get him to praise me. >> bret: you've called him

unethical and a liar on the campaign trail. >> compared to barack obama i think the republican party will be unified because the prospect of four more years of barack obama is uncomfortable for all republicans. this president has shaken the foundations of the system. four more years i think would be a disaster for the country. >> bret: you have led the way on naugsal republicans on the issue of gas prices. you've been out there talking bit nonstop. and as you mentioned white house has engaged you directly. is that an issue you can see playing out in the general election? why don't you think it works in alabama and mississippi? oof i am the least funded of the three major candidates and have the weight of recovering

from what ever romney's calls and direct mail notices are. so it's challenging to gets ahead of that. i'm glad we did as well as we did. we keep talking about issues and i think it does matter and i think in the general election if the president is faced with $5 or $6 a gallon gasoline he's going to be in trouble. the economy is going to be dramatic will he weakened. >> bret: last thing, mr. speaker, you're vow to stay in this race. for you? you're sticking to this? >>. >> i am stick toigt, bret. you've noen known me a long time, i'll be in the race. >> bret: mr. speaker, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> bret: we're going to get thoughts now from former minnesota governor tim

pawlenty, becoming national campaign co-chair for mitt romney. governor your reaction to the results tonight? mitt romney coming in third now. looks like third in alabama? >> i think people perceive things gore tok chalg yempking. the key thing is what does the delegate count look like? if he gets a third of the delegates tonight he's going to keep his lead and nudging is going to have changed in terms of a commanding lead in that count more than twice the next closest competitor that is remaining he's on the trajectory to be the nominee. if you look at numbers and what happened tonight nothing changes. >> bret: we've heard from the romney campaign about how tough it will be for rick santorum or newt gingrich to get to 1144 but it's tougher

for mitt romney, isn't it? >> there is a long night of head of us yet. congratulations to rick santorum z begin, if you look at the exercise of delegate counts, mitt remains likely to be the nominee. and this speaker just framed a question, a main question as who is best situated to beat barack obama? we know the answer to that. you look at the recent poll, there is one republican candidate who has been no worse than tied in many way as head of barack obama in national polls. his name is mitt romney. so to answer who is best situated the answer is... mitt romney. >> and tonight is a step back considering the amount of money romney campaign put in to alabama and mississippi? >> he would have loved to win

one or both of the states. congratulations to rick. i think everybody understood sometime ago. these are going to be challenging for him. so we're going to have to move on. and again, if you look at this in terms of delegates it looks promising for mitt. he's the most knowledgeable and capable and selectable in the field. >> bret: do you think newt gingrich should get out of the race? >> it's not our place to tell other candidates when to get out of the race or under what circumstance. is it's up to the speaker. >> bret: you think after the straw poll you came to the conclusion money and the road ahead was not looking good for newt and the campaign. if you were newt gingrich what would you be looking at? with would you continue? >> it's not my place to give the speaker advice. i would echo what charles said earlier if you can't win in alabama and mississippi where can you win? that is his backyard.

but it's a competition. he's entitled to stay in for whatever reason he may have for as long as he can be sustained. that is the way it is. you can't force him out. nor do we want to do that. it's up to him. >> p reality doesn't it help the romney campaign to have rick santorum and newt gingrich splitting one side of the vote? well, all pundits have done analysis and if so and so dropped out where would votes go. it's hard to tell. things will evolve over time. mitt has to focus on his message and vision for america, which the only only candidate in the race hasn't spent most of the adult life in washington, d.c. or in parasitic relationships in washington, d.c.. if washington, d.c. is the problem then how about we send someone who hasn't spent their live there or in a parasitic relationship witness? >> and governor pawlenty thank

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cameron in alabama. good evening, carl, interesting things from speaker gingrich in our interview. you talked to him earlier. >> yeah. we have an opportunity to head up stairs to the suite while he's watching return was wife and staffers. and very, very calm, selected and. lots of laughing and phone calls going on. he was talking to his supporters around the country. we talked with him. he clearly said during the results before the races were call that had no matter outcome he intended to go to tampa. we talked about his firm belief there is no way romney can win a majority based on gingrich's estimation of the math. it boils down to gingrich camp assertion romney may one a plurality but there is no way he can win a majority. he'd gotten personal on a number of occasions nchl

presidential campaigns candidates like to talk about policy differences and misrepresentations of the truth or inability to be accurate. they don't like to call each other liars but make reverences about integrity and personal character. it's very clear that a big part of why newt gingrich is going stay in this lace and continue to run is to block mitt romney from winning the nomination. there is a personal tone to this. gingrich is distrustful of his honesty and believes mitt romney lacks character to be commander in chief. so that motivation alone is clearly a big part of romney's determination to keep running. he recognizes there is pressure coming from the santorum campaign to not get out of the contest. mr. santorum has been saying this sometime. it's not a direct request for gingrich to leave, and that is going to ramp up. tonight his argument and

rhetoric is that it saint going to be mitt romney. and 20 seconds here, the romney campaign you can't see mitt romney tonight. why is that? >> about a week and a half ago they looked at polls and way things were going and thought there was a chance that romney could pull off perhaps a first-place showing but they knew he's going get a third of the delegates. so by not scheduling an election night, they're not in a position to have reporters like me, standing in front of a case saying bad night for mitt romney. and still not a good night for him. >> all right. carl, thank you. and the back to the panel. steve, interesting that dynamic, what do you think of the interview with newt gingrich? >> it was fascinating. half candidate, half analyst describing where he wanted to be and how he saw his campaign

for the presidency. it's clear he wants to deny mitt romney 1144 that. is his goal. and he said thachl i'm a lot paraphrasing what he told you. it's interesting. he made several arguments on behalf of that strategy. he said having two conservatives in the race couldn't focus his money on one of the two candidates he's talking tonight about having one together, two thirds of the delegates in mississippi and alabama how that is enough to deny mitt romney a win. those are the kinds of arguments one would make if that is your best bet and staffers say it would be a powerful team. and is that going to be the case down the road? unlikely. and the more final thoughts when we come back after this quick break.

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we're back for final thoughts. >> i thought the interview was really incredible. and i thought so interesting that the speaker really believed he's in it to help rick santorum stop mitt romney. he said you can't skt rest of us to help him. he's helping romney stay head of the pack by splitting the concern of the vote. i don't think rick santorum wants his help, newt gingrich thinks he needs it, as for mitt romney i don't know how we get to the math of 1144 but you do know this, after ohio and michigan it was supposed to shut this down. establishment was going to endorse him. and try to finish this up. that didn't happen. he's not winning anymore.

>> kirsten? >> i would say this is remarkable about newt gingrich calling someone a liar and unethical. regarding romney i think it's going to end up being a okay night with him. he's going to come out with a lot of delegates. and gingrich at 17 but that is going to end up being a good night for him in the end. >> bret: charles? >> a reasonable good night but there is a perception of romney's candidacy and strength i think hurts him. the trajectory of the campaign, every time romney has a big win and has a chance to have another one that will follow and be a knockout punch and leave him the nominee, he failed. he had a good super tuesday won six out of 11 he lived ohio and failed after new

hampshire win and florida win he had the same situation. he hasn't been able to put away, which means this looks like it will drag on. it's a testimony to santorum's strength and staying power. he keeps pumping up. he's the one who has that attract jiffness to the conservative base, it will drag on. >> bret: you're not cheering for mitt romney? >> i don't cheer for anyone. >> bret: none of us do. >> bret: steve, final thoughts? >> i agree with charles that the big picture is that he'll be ahead at the end from tonight and will add to this lead and it's true weaknesses remain. same with the same demographics. the change, phone shall, i think dynamic change in this

race is newt gingrich. what he says tonight and whether this de facto alliance goes that way. and speculated about for a while. newt gingrich talked bit openly. >> they spoke tonight on the phone. >> we know what they said about there was a conversation. >> bret: i should have asked. down the line, newt gingrich staying in? >> oh, yes. >> absolutely. >> bret: no doubt. a big night for rick santorum. he went down to newt gingrich's home court and became away with huge victories. you heard from him tonight. he said he's staying in. for the long hall. what about mitt romney? there is a delegate lead that may increase with hawaii and america samoa. answers incoming days and weeks. you can keep it here for continuing coverage.

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